Saturday, August 08, 2009

A Winning Weekend

This past Saturday was a busy one.
I was off to Kingston for the annual Kingston Sheep Dog Trials and the Sheep To Shawl Competition.
I was on observer two years ago when we won the Lendrum Wheel (!!) and was a Spinner this year.

The team consisted of 4 spinners and a weaver. We received a raw fleece (unwashed, unbrushed) and have 4.5 hours to Spin/Ply for yarn and weave a shawl to a specific measurement.

We received last pick of the fleeces this year (Not sure what kind of fleece it was--either a Romney or Texel I am told), a long stapled white/natural fleece, very very sticky with Lanolin.

Sandra brought her Wool combs which were a lifesaver.

I had purchased a dog brush to help with combing tips, but fully combing the wool made it so much easier--It took out more of the dirt/hay etc and got rid of harder spots in the fleece--so as not to have "lumpy" yarn.

Sandra or Muriel combed while we were spinning, then Sandra plied and gave the yarn to June Anne for weaving.


June Anne chose a natural/white, orange and green warp for the loom--which the Judge later commented made her think of "Sipping Margaritas".


We had fun, lots of people came in to see what we were doing--and we had Colleen this year who walked around an answered questions while we worked.

We finished up in the nick of time, wondered if we had a long enough shawl (it becomes smaller when you take it off the loom)--and waited for the results.

Kingston completed first with a pretty blue and white shawl that was woven to appear like waves.

Belleville had a beautiful warp of handspun--natural, a denim blue (hand dyed) and dark grey/black that was spun from dog hair!
They had challenging shawl that was put together on an angle to make a natural drape around your shoulders--they finished last as they needed the extra time to put their shawl together.

The Judge awarded us first place (!!) and we all received fibre from the Wilton Fibre Mill and Cornerstone Fibers (Both booths were conveniently right there so we could spend our money $$)

We had a blast and I would do it again next year!

While I was in Kingston, my daughter was competing in her Soccer tournament and made it through to the Play offs on Sunday
They had a very good team this year and I really liked their Coach (the Principal of a local public school) as he taught them some technique, encouraged them to learn new skills and was very encouraging--overall they played well all year and came in 3rd overall.

My daughters words after losing Sunday (Their only loss of the year): "Now we get TWO medals--the "Thanks for coming out medal" and a "Thanks for playing medal" and ice-cream--can we get ice cream now??"

The game ended just before a crazy storm blew in with lightening and torrential rain--the other games that were still going on, halted for a 1/2 hour to let the lightening blow over.

So, I came home with bags of fiber and a really cute apron (They were giving us a discount and we all bought one), Daughter came home with 2 medals and some ice cream

A great weekend :)


Update: Our picture was in the paper this past week

5 comments:

Michelle Found said...

Congrats, Sadie. You are one busy girl!

And congrats, Princess B, on your medallions. Jared's team was playing when the lightning and torrential rains arrived! After sitting in our vehicles with fogged-up windows, the rains moved out and the tournament games continued. You missed some good games, Momma Sadie, but looks like you had a lot of fun on your excursion.

And ice cream is ALWAYS a good way to celebrate! :O)

Morandia said...

very cool!!! Did my first Sheep to Shawl last year. We got washed fleece thank goodness.....

Your shawl looks amazing!

Mz Mar said...

Sounds like fun was had by all! Great job!

VictoriaD said...

Congrats! Sounds like a great time was had by all, Brenna included :-)

Sophia said...

well aren't you 2 decorated ladies?? lol
I just saw your picture from the paper finally; superstar!

Tell Brenna I hope she'll rub off her love for soccer on Andrew- he says he wants to play next year again; hopefully he won't have stage fright! hah